删

• Pinyin: shān
• Hanzi breakdown: 删 = 刂 (knife radical, right side) + 册 (bamboo book tablet) = to cut entries out of a bamboo book = to delete/excise text

Meaning

To delete, strike out, or excise; to remove words, sentences, or sections from text or digital content.

Used in editing and publishing: 删稿 (delete a draft), 删减 (cut/trim content), 删改 (revise by cutting). In digital contexts: 删帖 (delete a post), 删号 (deactivate an account). Often implies deliberate removal to shorten, clean up, or censor. The classical editorial principle 删繁就简 means to cut the complex and achieve simplicity.

Examples

1. 编辑对这篇文稿反复审读，将冗余的段落逐一删去，最终使全文在保留核心论点的前提下精简至原来的三分之二。 The editor read the manuscript over and over and removed the redundant paragraphs one by one, ultimately trimming the text to two-thirds of its original length while keeping the core argument intact.
2. 社交媒体平台根据内容审核规定对违反社区准则的帖子进行了批量处理，将涉及不实信息的内容一律删除。 In accordance with its content review policies, the social media platform processed posts that violated community guidelines in bulk and deleted all content involving false information.
3. 他在提交论文的前一天临时删掉了两千字的引言，重新撰写了一个更为简洁有力的开头，令审稿人的第一印象大为改观。 The day before submitting his thesis, he cut two thousand words from the introduction and rewrote a more concise, forceful opening, greatly improving the reviewer’s first impression.

Usage Guide

Context: editing, publishing, digital media, censorship

Tone: neutral

Do Say

• 主编要求所有作者在截稿前对各自文章进行自查，将重复引用的文献、与主题无关的旁枝情节以及超出字数限制的段落一律删去。(The chief editor required all authors to self-review their articles before the deadline and delete repeated citations, plot digressions unrelated to the theme, and paragraphs that exceeded the word limit.)
• 网络内容审核员每天面对海量的待审内容，需要在最短时间内判断哪些发布物违反了平台规定，并及时删除可能引发社会风险的不当信息。(Content moderators face a vast volume of content each day and must quickly determine which posts violate platform rules, promptly deleting inappropriate information that could pose social risks.)

Don't Say

• 把这个字删掉除 — 删 and 除 both mean to remove; combining them as 删掉除 is redundant and ungrammatical; use 把这个字删掉 or 把这个字删除 as separate constructions

Origin & History

删 = 刀/刂 (knife radical) + 册 (bamboo book tablet) = to cut entries out of a bamboo book = original meaning: to excise incorrect or unwanted text from written records

Cultural Context

Generation: All ages

Social background: Universal